Accidental amazing muesli!

I found a bag of dried cranberries in the pantry yesterday and some leftover dates and had some inspiration to try and make a muesli. Given I was heading off to work, I threw them into a bowl to soak – as I’ve read this is the key to not getting a dried fruit belly ache – and went on my merry way with a plan to make something creative with them today on my day off.

And… this is what happened!

Get yourself some of the ingredients below. If you don’t have the exact ones, just make it up!

1/2 cup buckwheat groats

1/2 cup quinoa flakes

1 1/2 cups puffed millet

1 Cup macadamias, roughly chopped or at least halved

1/2 cup dried cranberries, soaked

4-5 dates, soaked then torn or chopped

1 Tbsp honey

1 Tbsp butter

A few hours before, grab your dates and cranberries and stick them in a bowl, then cover them with a centimetre higher up in filtered water. Let them soak up the water and get really plump. This will also help to remove some of the excess sugars.

Once the fruit is looking rehydrated and soft, get yourself a large baking tray with sides. A roasting tray is a great option as it allows you to stir around without too much mess. Preheat your fan forced oven to 180 degrees celsius.

Pour your dry ingredients into the baking tray and stir them around a little to make sure their all mixed up. Then, sprinkle your fruit over the top, making sure to separate your pieces of date so they don’t all clump together. Then, melt the honey and butter in a cup in the microwave for about 20 seconds and then sprinkle over the top.

This is where it gets messy… grab your hands and mix it all around in there to make sure it is all coated in the honey butter goodness, then spread it all back out again so that it cooks evenly. Pop in your oven for 10 mins and be sure to use a timer. Pull out of the oven and give it all a stir around. The macadamias are likely to be the brownest so far, so stir them in under the rest of the mixture if they are so that they don’t burn. Pop back in for another timed 5 mins then repeat the stirring process. If you still want it a little more toasted, then repeat process again until happy.

Alternatively, if you just prefer a dried museli, you could do the same and either pop in the oven at 60 degrees celsius for a few hours or into a dehydrator. Please yourself. The toasted variety has great flavour though.

Serve up with your favourite kind of milk or use as a topping on yoghurt, dessert, stewed fruit… Wherever you please! Should store in an airtight jar for up to a week. This doesn’t make a huge quantity (about 3-4 servings dependent on size) so if you’re eating it as cereal, then it will only be a few days worth, but will be worth it 🙂

I ate mine with Pureharvest Coco Quench and topped with a sliced banana, it was definitely amazing.